Court case 202201620/1/A3 – Court Ruling (Netherlands, 2023)
General GDPR enforcement action
This case relates to broader data protection obligations, not specifically to cookie or consent banner compliance. It is not included in cookie statistics or the Risk Calculator.
A Dutch court ruled that a local government improperly kept photographs of a person's home for too long. This matters because it shows that even public bodies must follow privacy rules and respect people's requests to delete their personal information.
What happened
The Municipal Executive of Breda refused to erase photographs of a person's home that included identifiable details.
Who was affected
A resident of Breda whose home was photographed for tax purposes.
What the authority found
The court decided that the Municipal Executive did not properly handle the request to delete the photographs, violating GDPR principles.
Why this matters
This case highlights the importance of data minimization and the right to erasure. Local governments and organizations should be careful about how they store and use personal data.
GDPR Articles Cited
The data subject’s home was photographed in 2012 for the purposes of a tax valuation, under the Property Valuation Act. The photographs were initially processed lawfully (for tax valuation), but then afterwards put in a database and used for other purposes. The Municipal Executive of Breda (the controller) held these photographs and initially was the body responsible for tax valuations. In 2019, the Municipal Executive of Breda transferred these responsibilities to the West Brabant Tax Authority of Breda, which then became the competent public body for handling tax valuations in Breda. On 26 April 2020, the data subject (appellant) requested the Municipal Executive of Breda (the controller) to erase the photographs from their internal database. The photographs were focused on the architectural features of the home and the overall state of the property. However, from these photographs, the data subject’s license plate could be seen, as well as framed family photographs in the home. On 15 May 2020, the Municipal Executive of Breda refused to erase the photographs, because the database that they were held in was transferred to the West Brabant Tax Authority of Breda and erased from the Municipal Executive’s systems. The data subject objected to the Municipal Executive’s refusal and made a formal complaint against the Municipal Executive’s decision through its internal disputes system. On 24 November 2020, the Municipal Executive declared the claim unfounded and rejected the data subject’s request for damages. On 4 February 2022, the data subject appealed the Municipal Executive’s decision in court. The Court dismissed the appeal and declared the case inapplicable. The data subject appealed this decision. On 4 July 2023 the appeal was declared admissible by the Netherlands’s Administrative Jurisdiction Division of the Council of State (the country’s highest administrative court). The Court’s decision addressed two key issues, the applicability of the GDPR to th
Outcome
Court Ruling
A ruling by a national court on a data-protection matter.
Related Cases (0)
No other cases found for Court case 202201620/1/A3 in NL
This is the only recorded case for this entity in this jurisdiction.
Details
About this data
Cite as: Cookie Fines. Court case 202201620/1/A3 - Netherlands (2023). Retrieved from cookiefines.eu
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